Can Darren Helm stay healthy?

“I’m optimistic that I’m heading on the right path,” Helm said after taking part in the Wings’ developmental camp that ended Monday. “I wasn’t too sure how it was going to go. It’s a good start to summer training. It’s very encouraging.”

Helm went through five on-ice workouts in a six-day period after not skating since the Wings’ first round series with Anaheim.

Helm, 26, did not participate in the camp’s only scrimmage and also didn’t take part in 1-on-1 drills that were a bit more physical than the 2-on-2 drills he did do.

“There was no physical contact, but other than that over the last two days (Wings athletic trainer) Piet Van Zant said he went full out on and off the ice. He reported no issues. Next test is getting to camp in September and have physical contact.”

A slightly torn disc in his back limited Helm to playing in just one game last season.

“It’s a process,” Helm said. “I’m encouraged that’s for sure. I see this moving in the right direction, especially in the last few days.

“Guys were pushing me around a bit,” Helm added. “I did some battle drills, but I don’t think guys were going too hard on me. I think they understand what the situation is but it was nice to get pushed around and to push back.”

Helm has been on the wrong end of a rash of injuries of late.

He missed the Wings’ week-long training camp and the first three games of the season with the back injury, which was the first of his playing career.

He was hit by a puck on Nov. 2 during an informal skate in Troy, breaking an orbital bone.

He missed the final 10 games of the 2011-12 season with a sprained MCL. In his first game back, which was Game 2 of the Wings’ first-round series that season, he lasted just two shifts before lacerating tendons in his right forearm after being cut by a skate.

“It has been a tough year and a half,” Helm said. “It’ll be 18 months in September and I think I may have played something like 15 minutes. It hasn’t been a fun time. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but I see a light.”

Just like with the addition of winger Daniel Alfredsson and center Stephen Weiss on the first day of free agency, the Wings see getting a healthy Helm back is just like another acquisition.

“When you think about adding Steve and Alfie and Darren Helm to our team, from last year’s team, would be a tremendous, tremendous upgrade,” Holland said.

What the Wings miss most from Helm is his speed and the energy he brings each and every shift.

“He’s one of those guys you look to when you want energy,” Niklas Kronwall said last season. “He gives everything he’s got every shift of the game. Other guys feed off that, there’s no doubt about that. And he can go for shift after shift after shift and he makes it really hard on the other team night in and night out. He’s a huge part of our team.”

Wings coach Mike Babcock has called Helm the best third-line center in the league.

“I take my job pretty seriously,” Helm said at the time. “I want to be a hardworking guy that competes every night. If other people notice it that’s great, but I just have to keep doing my job.”